Bumblebees Busy in the Winter Garden.

The first sunny day of 2020 and Buff-tailed Bumblebees are buzzing in my garden around the flowering Mahonia shrub.Along with other flowering plants at this time of year this nectar enables species such as the Buff-tailed to remain active throughout the winter together with the mild temperatures in the south of England.The following photo's are of  a worker bumblebee,probably one of up to one hundred at a winter colony maintained by the queen bumblebee. 

First Bumblebee Sighting of the year.

We are now enjoying  a few days of  mild and settled weather and spring it seems is just around the corner.Therefore I was pleased to see my first bumblebee of the year,a Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) busily buzzing  in and out of our garden hellebores this morning.

Overwintering Bombus Terrestris

Over the last twelve years or so,naturalists have noted winter activity by the Buff-tailed Bumblebee,Bombus terrestris, Workers have been seen foraging at a wide range of winter-flowering plants and males have also been reported flying in February. From this it is clear that a small number of mated queens now establish nests in the autumn and they can therefore exploit the increasing winter blooming plants in our parks and gardens.

Today I was fortunate enough to see this Buff-tailed worker in the company of a much larger Buff-tailed queen. Obviously this individual has overwintered in a nest created last autumn.

Late Visitors.

The last couple of days of November were mild and sunny on the Island and it brought out the bees to feed on the mahonia which is flowering in our garden.This queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee,Bombus terrestris, is a late in the year visitor.

Another bee enjoying my mahoina was the Honeybee,Apis mellifera. Our native honeybee is active all the year round as the workers ensure that enough pollen is collected to provide honey in the hive for the colony to sustain it through the winter.Of course when conditions are suitable and flowers available the bee will collect more pollen at any time.

The Cuckoo Bumblebees.

Of the six Cuckoo Bumblebees found in the UK three have been recorded on the Isle of Wight.

One of these three is the Vestal Cuckoo or Southern Cuckoo Bumblebee,Bombus vestalis.This species is known to parasitise the nests of the Buff-tailed Bumblebee,Bombus terrestris.

Both males and females can be identified by the narrow yellow patches at the base of the white tail.

Bombus hortorum or Bombus jonellus

Again on my garden fence this morning were several bumblebees enjoying the morning sunshine.
This particular bumblebee caught my eye as it seemed to display two yellow bands on its thorax as opposed to the one band on the species Bombus terrestris and Bombus lucorum.This would indicate therefore that the bumblebee is the Garden Bombus hortorum or the Heath Bombus jonellus as both have the two bands.

A definite identification is normally seen in the shape of the face,more or less rounded in the case of the jonellus whereas hortorum is elongated.

Workers on the Job.

The worker bumblebees have now started to appear.Maybe the first ones are the Buff-tailed Bombus terrerstris as this species is normally the earliest of the year.The workers are smaller than the queen and have a white tail with a subtle buff line seperating the tail from the abdomen.

Early Risers

Maybe the first bumblebee to see in any season will be the Buff-tailed Bombus terrestris.Also known as the Large Earth Bumblebee,the bee nests in the ground sometimes in old mouse holes.Colony is normally a minimum of 100 bees and can be up to 600.One of the most common bees in the UK.